6/16/2006
Smithsonian Removes Electric-Car Exhibit
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Just weeks before the release of a movie about the death of the electric car from the 1990s, the Smithsonian Institution has removed its EV1 electric sedan from display.
The National Museum of American History removed the rare exhibit yesterday, just as interest in electric and hybrid vehicles is on the rise.
The upcoming film "Who Killed the Electric Car?" questions why General Motors created the battery-powered vehicles and then crushed the program a few years later. The film opens June 30th.
GM happens to be one of the Smithsonian's biggest contributors. But museum and GM officials say that had nothing to do with the removal of the EV1 from display.
posted by Kevin at 7:38 PM
6/14/2006
74% Hate Their Job
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Jobs today provide just enough rope for most people the hang themselves. Have a nice day: The main problem is that most companies are simply rotten places where people are forced to waste their lives in exchange for a paycheck that will never be big enough.
posted by Kevin at 4:27 AM
6/13/2006
Personal Data on 1,500 Nuclear Weapons Employees Stolen
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One for the "I Sh*t You Not" file: Around 1,500 workers for the nuclear-weapons unit of the Energy Department in Albuquerque, New Mexico have been left vulnerable after a hacker stole sensitive information. Names, Social Security numbers, information where the employees worked, security clearance and birth dates were taken during the theft. The incident took place last September, but the proper authorities were not notified until several days ago, it was reported during a congressional hearing last Friday. It is unknown what impact the breach had on the 1,500 employees.
News of this attack, especially after the larger breach of the Veterans Affairs Department, may put more pressure on the government to do a better job of securing its networks and databases against cyber attacks. Another serious concern is why it took so long before the theft victims and proper government officials were notified. Linton Brooks, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, believed the counterintelligence office would tell employees of the security breach -- but that never happened. One of the members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has asked Brooks for his resignation.
posted by Kevin at 10:46 PM
Global Equity Meltdown "Wiped Out" More Than $2 Trillion
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Oh, just wait: The month-long slide in global stocks has wiped out at least $2 trillion in wealth, leaving investors few alternatives to preserve their holdings aside from bonds and money markets.
Investors have been dumping stocks, commodities and emerging market assets on growing concerns that economic growth will suffer from higher inflation and interest rates.
posted by Kevin at 9:12 PM
Gold Gapping Down Along with Global Stock Markets? Sure, Why Not?
A few weeks ago, in a forum post on gold and silver, I wrote: I have no idea where prices are headed, or even if prices (quoted in fiat currencies) will mean much. That's why I got completely out. And in a recent email to a reader, I wrote: If it has quotes that are updated in real-time, chances are, it won't be useful for much when the sh*t hits the fan. Lots of people holding gold, as it gaps down along with global stock markets, are probably scratching their heads right now. Gold should be going up when markets fall... Gold is a safe haven... Gold is real money... Right? It's like this: people just aren't thinking weird enough. There's a reason why institutional traders call retail investors dumb money. It's because the retail investor---if you trade your own account or pay a broker to do it, you're a retail investor---is trying to play by the rules established by the most criminally corrupt and diabolical economic system that the world has ever seen. Here's a question for retail investors out there: Would you show up to a gun battle with a butter knife? That's pretty much what you're doing when you enter a trade in any equity, commodity or currency market right now. Like showing up to a gunbattle with a butter knife, there's a chance that you'll be the last one standing, but not much of a chance. I came to the conclusion that gold wasn't the way to go because A) my wife and I needed a farm, not gold, and B) gold transactions and contracts are settled in, guess what: fiat currency. Funny money. It makes no sense that gold should be available for purchase with U.S. dollars. It makes absolutely no sense. If gold is the "real money" gold bugs (I used to be one) believe it to be, it makes no more sense to be able to buy gold with U.S. dollars than it would make to be able to buy a cow with a cupful of rocks. "Yes, Kevin," I can hear you guys thinking, "but you and your wife bought your land with your fiat currency. How does that make sense?" It doesn't. The difference is that there is a much better chance that this farm will sustain us than there is that gold will be as safe a haven as people are expecting it to be. Gold could go to $1000, $2000, $5000 per ounce. It could also go to $100 per ounce. My wife and I have much more control over what happens in our dirt than what some criminal syndicate says the value of the "real money" should be. As someone who used to daytrade my own account to survive, mark my words: All equity, commodity and currency markets are scams. You're playing the House's game when you're screwing around with any of it. You may come out on top, but if I was a betting man, which I'm not, my money would be on the House. If there's one thing I've learned in all my years of looking at events, it's that events never go the way anyone thinks they're going to go in the future. It seems so obvious that gold is the way to go with the instability and precarious nature of the global economic system. Right? Explain gold's recent leg down, in the face of crashing global stock markets.Actually, I don't want you to explain it to me (because I've read all the theories, which are starting to sound more nuts than a Baptist revival). That's the beauty of being out. If you're long (or short) gold, silver or sea shells, best of luck to you. Also, best of luck in not having to rely on luck anymore. The people you're betting against don't.
posted by Kevin at 3:32 PM
Outlaw Biodiesel Brewers
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If you think you're not going to pay the Man with your fart scooter, corn Porsche or grease bus, think again: In Salt Lake County, making biodiesel, at least on a homebrew level, has come to a screaching halt due to a law on the books that makes it against the law to collect waste veggie oil unless you have a "Liquid Waste Handling Permit".
To get one runs you $125.00/year, an inspection from the health dept, and proof of a general liability insurance policy with $1 Mil in the environmental liability section.
posted by Kevin at 4:53 AM
6/12/2006
NIKKEI SLAMMED DOWN -614.41 -4.14%
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NASDAQ down seven days in a row. Asia clobbered. All red. Where's the damn Plunge Protection Team? TOKYO, June 13 (Reuters) - The Nikkei share average plunged 4.14 percent on Tuesday to book its biggest one-day percentage loss in two years...
The Nikkei has now dropped about 20 percent since April 7 when the benchmark hit its intraday high for the year.Related: Investment Advice
posted by Kevin at 11:40 PM
Rigorous Intuition V2.0
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Jeff Wells ran into some trouble publishing Rigorous Intuition with Blogspot. * Imagine my shock * He is in the process of sorting out a more reliable and secure solution. In the meantime, update your bookmarks: Rigorous Intuition V2.0If you run a site, please help spread the word. Thanks!
posted by Kevin at 10:15 PM
Iraq Contractors (Mercenaries) Make Billions on the Front Line
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There is no "front line" in a guerilla conflict, but anyway... What's important is that the whores of war get paid: Private military contractors are earning billions of dollars in Iraq -- much of it from U.S. taxpayers.
Business is booming for those willing to tackle one of the most dangerous jobs on Earth. Lucrative U.S. government contracts go to firms called on to provide security for projects and personnel -- jobs that in previous conflicts have been done by the military.
A single contract awarded to Britain's AEGIS Specialist Risk Management company by the Pentagon was worth $293 million, and while the government says it cannot provide a total amount for the contracts -- many of which are secret -- industry experts estimate Iraq's security business costs tens of billions of dollars.
posted by Kevin at 5:24 PM
SNIPER SHOOTS JUDGE THROUGH COURTHOUSE WINDOW
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Why isn't this BREAKING NEWS on all of the corporate news sites? The reason is probably that the authorities don't feel as though they can spin this into some sort of 'terrorist' yarn just yet: A family court judge was shot and wounded as he stood near a third-floor courthouse window Monday, and police sealed off the area and searched nearby parking garages for a sniper.
Chuck Weller, 53, was hit in the chest around midday by a shot or shots that came through his office window at the Mills B. Lane Justice Center, authorities said. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was reported in serious condition.
posted by Kevin at 4:57 PM
Asia's Oil Drilling Fails to Increase Production
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Asia's expanded oil drilling, spurred by record prices, has failed to boost supplies and ease the region's growing reliance on the Middle East, said Fereidun Fesharaki, chairman of the Asia Oil & Gas Conference.
Saudi Arabia, Iran and other Middle East producers will provide 70 percent of any additional oil demand over the next five years, said Fesharaki, chief executive officer at oil consultant Facts Inc.
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Increased spending in Asia by explorers such as Shell, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. reflect soaring costs as they chase oil in deeper waters offshore and prices of steel and raw materials rise.
"The spending will go up, but I don't think they're drilling more wells," David Morrison, chairman of energy at Wood Mackenzie, an oil consulting group, said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, before the conference started. It's because of "the cost inflation in the service sector."
posted by Kevin at 4:35 AM
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:. Reading
Fatal
Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture by Andrew Kimbrell
Readers will come to see
that industrial food production is indeed a "fatal harvest"
- fatal to consumers, as pesticide residues and new disease vectors
such as E. coli and "mad cow disease" find their way
into our food supply; fatal to our landscapes, as chemical runoff
from factory farms poison our rivers and groundwater; fatal to
genetic diversity, as farmers rely increasingly on high-yield
monocultures and genetically engineered crops; and fatal to our
farm communities, which are wiped out by huge corporate
farms.
Friendly
Fascism: The New Face of Power in America by Bertram Myron Gross
This is a relatively
short but extremely cogent and well-argued treatise on the rise
of a form of fascistic thought and social politics in late 20th
century America. Author Bertram Gross' thesis is quite straightforward;
the power elite that comprises the corporate, governmental and
military superstructure of the country is increasingly inclined
to employ every element in their formidable arsenal of 'friendly
persuasion' to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans
through what Gross refers to as friendly fascism.
The
Good Life
by Scott and Helen Nearing Helen
and Scott Nearing are the great-grandparents of the back-to-the-land
movement, having abandoned the city in 1932 for a rural life based
on self-reliance, good health, and a minimum of cash...Fascinating,
timely, and wholly useful, a mix of the Nearings' challenging
philosophy and expert counsel on practical skills.
Silent
Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth by David Bollierd
In Silent Theft, David Bollier
argues that a great untold story of our time is the staggering
privatization and abuse of our common wealth. Corporations are
engaged in a relentless plunder of dozens of resources that we
collectively own—publicly funded medical breakthroughs,
software innovation, the airwaves, the public domain of creative
works, and even the DNA of plants, animals and humans. Too often,
however, our government turns a blind eye—or sometimes helps
give away our assets. Amazingly,
the silent theft of our shared wealth has gone largely unnoticed
because we have lost our ability to see the commons.
The
Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-To-Basics
Guide by John Seymour The
Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the only book that
teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony
with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops
and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and
wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving, and much more.
When
Corporations Rule the World by David C. Korten
When Corporations
Rule the World explains how economic globalization has concentrated
the power to govern in global corporations and financial markets
and detached them from accountability to the human interest. It
documents the devastating human and environmental consequences
of the successful efforts of these corporations to reconstruct
values and institutions everywhere on the planet to serve their
own narrow ends.
The
New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques
for the Home and Market Gardener
This expansion
of a now-classic guide originally published in 1989 is intended
for the serious gardener or small-scale market farmer. It describes
practical and sustainable ways of growing superb organic vegetables,
with detailed coverage of scale and capital, marketing, livestock,
the winter garden, soil fertility, weeds, and many other
topics.
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